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Friday, 23 November 2012

Sepia Saturday - Two Close September Sisters

Sepia Saturday encourages bloggers to record their family history through photographs.

There was no hesitation in coming up with my posting for this week's theme. It had to be the story of two close sisters - my mother and aunt, Kathleen and Edith Danson. of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.

My mother Kathleen Danson and her sister Edith were born one year and one week apart, in 1907 and 1908, daughters of William Danson and Alice English of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. They remained close all their lives - as can be seen these photographs below.

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Edith and Kathleen Danson = late 1908

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Playing in the garden - Edith (seated) &
Kathleen, c.1914

Edith and Kathleen, 1916.

Aunt Edith was the
eldest born on 2nd September 1907. I think of her as one of line of "Feisty Danson Females" and she was fond of regaling me with stories of the family and
her life in teaching. She was the only one in the family to win a scholarship to Fleetwood
Grammar School, riding the four miles on her bike in all weathers. She became
a teacher at Burn Naze School in Thornton (a poor area of town the time), kept
home for her father and brother, travelled widely, even to Russia in Iron
Curtain days, and married for the first time at the aged 73. You can tell from
her photographs that she was someone who enjoyed life. Aunt Edith, was, of course, my godmother and took on the role with great gusto.

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Her sister Kathleen (my
mother) was born 8th September 1908 and was more reserved. I have
been proud to give tributes to her in other postings such as Happiness is Stitching.

Both Edith and Kathleen enjoyed fashion, and made their own clothes on a treadle machine (their house did not have electricity until 1958) and regularly went dancing at the Winter Gardens, and the Tower Ballrooms in Blackpool - where my mother met my father.

Kathleen & Edith

Kathleen & Edith

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Both were accomplished at needlework and crafts, with Aunt Edith also a talented artist. and both , like many of their generation were skilled bakers.

Stitched by my mother

Painting by my Aunt Edith

Collage by my mother

Who could be my mother's bridesmaid in 1938, but ~Aunt Edith. Forty-three years later, in 1981, the roles were reversed when Edith married.

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Both sisters left me with a wonderful legacy on how to get the most out of life. I have a lot to thank them for.

Thank you to everyone for their kind comments. It was a very satsisfying posting to compose and to bring together all the photographs of my mother and aunt down the decades. To the points about Aunt Edith marrying for the first time at 73, she once commented she seemed to be going to so many funerals and perhaps she decided to "seize the day" and take on this new experience in a late stage of her life.

Lovely post Sue! Such wonderful photos accompanying a wonderful story. I especially like the photo of them with their gloves and hats on. So elegant! And the photos of them at each other's weddings are precious!

About Me

I have been interested in family history for years. It all began when I was allowed as a child to look through the old family photographs and memorabilia kept in a shoebox in the cupboard at my grandfather's house. That treat started me on a fascinating ancestral trail.